Udupi, Jan 11: The postmortem of another monkey that had died on Wednesday was performed in the presence of Udupi district team of health department officials on Thursday, January 10. This monkey had died on Wednesday at Karnataka Power Corporation (KPC) residential colony at Hosangadi in the taluk.

The people are now scared about the chances of Kyasanur Forest Disease currently prevalent in Sagar taluk in Shivamogga district spreading to Udupi district located at the foot of Western Ghats.

Two male monkeys aged around six were found to have died after struggling for breath for some time with saliva flowing out of their mouths in KPC colony. Postmortem of one of these monkeys that had died in the morning was conducted on Wednesday itself. As another monkey died in similar fashion in the afternoon, the postmortem of the second monkey was performed in the presence of a team of the health department officials. Viscera samples from the monkey were sent to the laboratory at Shivamogga for testing, and the corpse was consigned to flames.

The samples have been sent to Virus Diagnostic Laboratory Shivamogga. Udupi district health and family welfare officer, Dr Rohini, said that exact reason for the deaths of the monkeys would be known upon receipt of report from the laboratory.

The carcass of a monkey was found lying at the Chikkalbetu bend in Hirgana village, Karkala taluk, on Thursday. This incident has given rise to fear among the locals about the chances of spread of monkey disease. The monkey which died was about one year old. Veterinary officer, Subramanya Prasad, who performed postmortem, said that preliminary examination did not reveal presence of monkey fever. He said that the samples taken from the body would be sent to Shivamogga for testing.

Hirgana primary health centre medical officer, Dr Shama Shukur, said that people need not panic as no cases of monkey fever have been reported from the region so far. Taluk medical officer, Dr Krishnananda Shetty, and officials of forest department visited the spot.